Sgan ordered Eddie to attack him and not to pull his punches. Eddie obliged with a bull rush. Sgan avoided the charge and flipped Eddie easily. Eddie scrambled to his feet and threw a punch. Sgan sidestepped it and flipped him again. After being flipped three times and then being punched hard in the chest, Eddie was on his knees gasping for breath. “I quit,” he said, hanging his head.

“That’s it?” I thought you were a tough guy,” Sgan said.

“You thought wrong,” Eddie said, rising to one knee.

Sgan looked at the other candidates. “Lesson one,” he said, pointing down at Eddie. “No matter how tough you think you are, you need professional training.”

From his kneeling position Eddie threw a perfect uppercut into Sgan’s balls. Sgan grunted and bent over. Eddie stood up and punched down into Sgan’s jaw, driving him face-first into the mat, unconscious.

“Lesson two,” Eddie said. “Never underestimate your opponent.”
The day after breaking his instructor’s jaw and busting his balls, Eddie was ordered to appear before the academy disciplinary board. “Can you think of any reason you should not be dismissed from this program?” Captain Brian Sullivan asked.

Eddie stood, silent.

“Answer the question, Cadet Perlmutter,” the Captain ordered.

“I’m thinking,” Eddie said.

“I can think of a reason,” Instructor Avi Sgan said through a wired jaw.

Everyone in the room turned toward Sgan. The captain nodded at the instructor to continue.

“Cadet Perlmutter’s strategy was brilliant,” Sgan mumbled through clenched teeth. “He lulled me into complacency. He should be complimented, not reprimanded. I have not been beaten since I became a master of Krav Maga.”

“Training him could determine if Krav Maga would work for the entire Boston Police Department ” Sgan said.

Perlmutter received three weeks’ probation for insubordination by the disciplinary board. At a separate meeting, it was decided that Sgan would be allowed to train Cadet Perlmutter in Krav Maga for six weeks.

At the end of his training, Cadet Perlmutter gave a Krav Maga demonstration. The board decided that this particular martial art was too aggressive for standard police work and that Eddie Perlmutter was the most dangerous man on the Boston police force.

Eddie ranked number two in his class when he graduated from the academy. He was number one with a gun, earning him the nickname “Eddie the Kid” for his marksmanship. He finished first in physical fitness, self-defense, and criminal investigation, but was last in discipline. He could control an angry mob better than he could control himself.